Mike Shevdon - The Road to Bedlam

He squared his shoulders. "Come," he said. "We are almost there."

Beyond the iron doors was different. Where before there had been offices and computers, carpets and corridors, this was more like a hospital than an office building. The floors were dark vinyl, the walls painted white without pictures or pattern, and the air smelled of antiseptic.

The beds in the wards were mostly empty. The few patients lay comatose, immune to gunfire and violence. Beyond them I could see where people hid in the wards, concealing themselves behind curtains or beds, trying not to be noticed. When we came near, they scurried away into the dark and I could see that most of them were medical staff. Raffmir ignored them, though he was more cautious after the encounter with the guards.

As we continued, the wards gave way to rooms, each with a single occupant. The wall facing the corridors was glass, as were the doors, but the glass had a peculiarly solid quality. The locks on the doors stood out dark and cold, a simple key lock in each, but made of iron.

I halted. "What are these?" I asked Raffmir.

"We have reached the inmates' accommodation," he replied, walking on without pause. "This is where your daughter has been kept. I did try and use my influence to get her moved, but the staff here are a law unto themselves."

"These people are gifted?"

In the nimbus glow, flickering light illuminated the dark room. A young boy was curled in the centre of the room, arms wrapped around his knees. He appeared to be mumbling something to himself, again and again. I moved to the next. An old woman sat on the bed platform, staring at us through the glass. In the room opposite, a large man stood leaning against the glass, hands cupped over his eyes, trying to see out.

"Do not be distracted by trivia, Dogstar. We do not have time."

"But they're like me."

"After tonight, I doubt this facility will continue."

"What will happen to them, then?"

"Do you want your daughter or not?"

"What will happen to them?" I repeated.

"I don't know." His voice held a lie.

"Get me a key."

"We do not have time, Dogstar. Your daughter is this way." He gestured with his sword down the corridor.

As if in answer, there was a dull boom from the way we had come.

"What was that?" I asked him.

"They are rallying their defences. Because we have disabled the power, sealing the door locks, they are having to force their way into the building.

"Get me the key to these doors," I said.

"There's no time."

"If we let them out, anyone coming after us will be delayed, while they deal with the escapees," I pointed out.

He paused for a second and then strode back to the wards. Disappearing for a moment he returned with a young nurse, her arm twisted painfully behind her.

"Get me the key to these cells," he said, pushing her into the corridor.

"I don't know where it is," she lied.

His sword flashed once in the dark. There was the beginning of a startled shriek which fell abruptly silent. Her headless body fell to the floor. He kicked the head ahead of him, back into the ward. Marching after it, he re-entered the ward. There was a hail of protests before he dragged an older woman out into the corridor. She swatted at him with her hands, but he ignored her, propelling her forward. She stopped in front of the headless corpse, breathing hard.

"Your colleague said she didn't know where the key to the cells was." He nodded at the corpse, speaking calmly.

Without hesitating the woman pointed to where we had come in. "The guard station," she said, her voice quavering.

"Bring it to me," he said quietly.

She ran down the corridor towards the guard station.

"If you do not come back," he called after her, "I will come after you."

We waited in the dim light.

"Maybe she can't find it in the dark," I said.

"If your daughter is dead by the time we reach her, remember it is you who wanted a delay."

The nurse advanced towards us, holding the key out gingerly.

Raffmir's hand shot out and took her wrist, holding the key up. "Take it from her," he said.

"It's iron," I pointed out.

"I know that. You wanted the key, there it is."

She tried to pull away, but he held her easily, tightening his grip so she gasped.

"Take the key." I knelt down and drew the coat of the headless corpse towards me. The woman watched me, eyes wide. I ripped the pocket off the coat with one clean swipe, then used it to take the key from the woman's hand, wrapping the scrap around the key, so I didn't have to touch it. Even so, I could feel the iron through the material, a curious ache from having it so close.

Raffmir twisted the wrist, so that the woman lifted her chin in pain. The sword arced brightly and another head arced away into the dark to bounce wetly along the corridor. The body spurted blood as it fell, dribbling red down the glass wall of the nearest cell in sticky dribbles.

"Another corpse to your tally?" I asked him.

"If you had not wanted the key she would still be alive."

"Don't blame me for your actions."

"I do not blame you, but she knew how many we are, and that we are sensitive to iron. That is too much knowledge to fall into the hands of our enemies. Now hurry. We are late."

I went to the cell with the boy and used the key wrapped in the scrap of cloth to unlock the door. Close up, I could see that in the glass there was a fine mesh of iron layered into the glass. I pushed the door open.

"You're free to go." He did not move, but simply sat on the floor.

I went to the next cell. The woman watched me while I unlocked and opened the door, but did not move.

"Come on. You have a chance to escape. Get out while you can."

She stood calmly, brushing down her grey overall. Then came to the door. As she reached the door I stepped back, but she came close and pressed her hand to my cheek.

Her eyes glowed lilac, momentarily.

She shook her head. "So much brightness…" Then she jerked as if in spasm, her eyes opening wide so that the whites were exposed in a ring around the dark of the pupil. I tried to thrust her hand away, but it was as if it were welded to the skin.

She leaned close, whispering into my ear. "The sun will rise, and they shall fall."

"The what?"

She snatched her hand back and cradled it as if it had been burned. Then she slipped past me and ran into the dark.

"What did she say?" asked Raffmir?

"I'm not sure…"

The sun shall rise – I had heard that before somewhere. Where was it? Shaking my head, I went to the cell opposite and unlocked the door. I didn't open it, but moved to the next, unlocking each of them along one side and then back along the other so that they could all escape if they wished. When they were all unlocked, I dropped the key on the sticky headless corpses in the centre of the corridor.

"We've done what we can. Let's go."

Raffmir shook his head and strode away, illuminating each cell as he passed. As I followed after, people began hesitantly to leave their cells, slipping away into the dark, unsure of whether our intentions were friendly or not.

I wasn't sure of that myself.

As we passed further along the corridor, there was another block of cells, empty this time apart from two. In one a young woman sat staring at the blank wall opposite, while in the other the inmate, an old man, raged against the glass, hammering and banging, screaming incoherently. I watched for a moment as we passed. There were smears on the glass where the man's hands bled. I couldn't tell whether he was raging at us, at his imprisonment, or at something else. Either way, it was too late to return for the key.

"What will happen to the ones that do not escape?" I asked Raffmir. "Honestly?"